Written by Welcome on May 8, 2017

Will Advise on Clinical Trial Design for Dry AMD and Stargardt’s Treatment

LaFayette, NY – Ichor Therapeutics, Inc. (Ichor Therapeutics) is pleased to announce that it has recruited one of the world’s top experts in retinal disease, Dr. José-Alain Sahel, M.D., to join its Advisory Board regarding LYSOCLEAR™, a pre-clinical drug candidate in development by its affiliate, Lysoclear, Inc. (Lysoclear), for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Stargardt’s macular degeneration.

Dr. Sahel is known worldwide for his expertise in vision restoration techniques. He has developed several interventions for retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, vascular eye disease, and other vision impairments that currently are untreatable, and is a co-inventor on more than 40 patents.

Dr. Sahel is the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the director of the UPMC Eye Center, and also serves as the Chair of Ophthalmology for the Eye and Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh. He is also the founder and director of the Vision Institute in Paris and a professor at the Sorbonne’s medical school Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie.

“We are extremely pleased to be adding someone of Dr. Sahel’s caliber and experience to our Advisory Board,” said Kelsey Moody, MBA, and CEO of both Ichor Therapeutics and Lysoclear. “We have no doubt that Dr. Sahel’s expertise will allow us to develop reliable, consistent protocols for our clinical trials and that his impact on our Board will be immediate and enduring.”

As an Advisory Board member, Dr. Sahel will advise on the clinical trial design for therapies that Lysoclear is developing for dry AMD and Stargardt’s macular degeneration, including the LYSOCLEAR™ drug candidate. He has overseen more than 50 clinical trials, many of which are focused on retinal implants, gene therapy, and other advanced biomedical technologies. Dr. Sahel also heads the French National Reference Center for Retinal Dystrophies and chairs a network of more than 90 European clinical trial centers focused on retinal diseases. The drug candidate LYSOCLEAR™ is now being evaluated in pre-clinical animal models for safety and efficacy. Lysoclear expects to be prepared to begin human clinical trials for LYSOCLEAR™ in 2018.